Pages

Our Country's Fiery Ordeal

A blog about the American Civil War, written and maintained by historian Daniel J. Vermilya, author of The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain (History Press, 2014) and James Garfield and the Civil War (History Press, 2015)

"And may an Overuling Providence continue to cause good to come out of evil, justice to be done to all men where injustice has long prevailed, and finally, peace, quiet, and harmony to come out of this terrible confrontation and our country's fiery ordeal." -- Albert Champlin, 105th Ohio, Diary entry of June 19, 1864 (Western Reserve Historical Society)

Saturday, December 5, 2015

December 5, 1863: James Garfield Resigns from the Army

152 years ago today, on December 5, 1863, James Garfield
resigned his position in the Union army. He did so having achieved the rank of
Major General of Volunteers, a promotion he was given for his service in the
Battle of Chickamauga. Indeed, the date of rank for his promotion was September
19, 1863, the first day of Chickamauga. It was also, as fate would have it,
eighteen years to the day before he succumbed to his wounds from an assassin’s
bullet as president in 1881.

Garfield leaving the army at the rank of Major General of Volunteers was remarkable for a man who had risen so quickly. He was leaving the army at the age of thirty-two, just one year shy of his father's age when Abram Garfield died in Ohio in 1833. In almost the same amount of years, he had gone considerably farther in his life than his father ever had. He had been a professor, college president, state senator, and now, a general in the Union army.

Garfield had mixed feelings about leaving the army in
December 1863. He did so in order to take a seat in Congress that he had been
elected to the previous year. When his name had come into consideration for a
congressional nomination in the summer of 1862, Garfield pledged to his friends
and supporters that if he were elected, he would leave the army to serve his
constituents in Congress. At the time, however, Garfield and the Union were in
the midst of one of several low points during the war. While Confederates made
gains on the battlefields of the South, Garfield had grown frustrated with the
pace of the war and his role in it, which he believed to be quite lackluster at that time.

Garfield
won his election in October 1862 while he was in Washington awaiting a
new assignment in the army. That month, Garfield was embroiled in the fervor of
Civil War Washington, growing frustrated at the lack of progress being made on
the battlefields in stemming the tide of the Confederate rebellion. Garfield
developed a strong disdain for a number of West Point educated and professional
army officers, believing that too many of them adopted a conservative approach
in the war that would only lead to Southern victory. In the same month in which
he was elected to Congress, Garfield passionately wrote, “If the Republic goes
down in blood and ruin, let its obituary be written thus: ‘Died of West Point.’” With such an attitude, it is no wonder that he had a desire to leave the army for the arena of politics.

Following Garfield’s election, Congress was not meeting for
its first new session until December 1863. Thus, Garfield had time before he
had to leave the army, allowing him to serve as the Chief of Staff for William
Rosecrans and the Army of the Cumberland through most of that year. This
continued service was not a sure thing, however. At least not at first. Early
in 1863, Garfield wrote to Attorney General Edward Bates to ask him what he was
legally required to do as a Congressman-elect who was active in the army. Did
he have to resign right away? Bates assured Garfield that he did not have to
resign until he took his seat in Congress, guaranteeing Garfield several months
more active service in the Union army. This allowed Garfield to continue
gaining invaluable experience and to help orchestrate and take part in the
Tullahoma Campaign and to play an important role in the midst of the maelstrom
of war that was the Battle of Chickamauga.

Even in late 1863, Garfield still had qualms about leaving the army. In a meeting with President Lincoln, Garfield expressed his reservations over resigning his position to serve in Congress. Lincoln encouraged Garfield to take his congressional seat, telling the young Ohioan that he needed congressmen "who know the wants of the army from practical knowledge."

With the advice of the president and his past promises in mind, Garfield resigned from the army 152 years ago today. He was taking the same enthusiasm for the war which he had displayed in the army and transforming it into his congressional career. He would no longer fight as an army officer; now, he would fight as a congressman.

Beyond his conflicted feelings about leaving the army, Garfield entered into Congress in a moment of great personal grief. On December 1, his first-born child Eliza died in Ohio. Nicknamed "Trot" after a character in a Charles Dickens novel, Eliza was born on the eve of the war in July 1860. Garfield's letters home throughout the war frequently spoke of her, asking his wife Lucretia to "kiss Trot" for him.

Just days after Eliza's funeral, Garfield
found himself in Washington, leaving the “wild life of the army” behind, as he
described his military experiences in a letter to his wife Lucretia. He was about to embark on a new and entirely different endeavor, one which would eventually lead him to the White House.

About Me

Lifelong student of the Civil War and American History, Park Ranger at Antietam National Battlefield and Gettysburg National Military Park, and die hard fan of the Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Philadelphia Flyers (yes, that is an eclectic mix, don't ask me to explain).
[The thoughts and postings on this page are entirely my own and in no way are meant to reflect those of my employers].
Romans 8:28; Philippians 4:13

More About Me...

Hillsdale College, Bachelor of Arts, 2009-Double majored in history and politics-Graduated cum laude with departmental honors in history

John Carroll University, Master of Arts, 2011-Main focus on American Civil War, Secondary focuses on American Revolution and Modern Europe-Master's Thesis analyzed motivations and experiences of Ohio soldiers in Sherman's army during the Atlanta Campaign of 1864

-Park Ranger, Antietam National Battlefield, 2010-2015

-Park Ranger, Gettysburg National Military Park, 2013-

- First annual recipient of the Save Historic Antietam Foundation's Dr. Joseph L. Harsh Memorial Scholarship Award. My research topic is the Strength, Composition, and Experience of the Army of the Potomac at Antietam (2012).

"Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."

--Abraham Lincoln, Address at Cooper Union, February 27, 1860

"This is essentially a people's contest. On the side of the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form and substance of government whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men; to lift artificial weights from all shoulders; to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all; to afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life. Yielding to partial and temporary departures, from necessity, this is the leading object of the Government for whose existence we contend."

--Abraham Lincoln, July 4, 1861 message to Congress

"Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We--even we here--hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free--honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just-- a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless."